Barbara Ann Trentam McAndrew entered eternal life yesterday morning at around 6:00am.

If you are in any way familiar with the workings of Republican politics in this State, that means something to you, and if you are from Jefferson County, it has rocked your little world, because things as you know them might never again be the same. We can say this because Barbara McAndrew was simply a fixture of life here, and whether you've lived in Jefferson County all of your life or you came to the area relatively recently, if you really wanted to get something done in the community it often helped to be on the good side of Barbara.

We live in a cynical age that is often filled with cynical people, but Barbara McAndrew not only cherished her ideals and believed in them, she lived them to the fullest. In an era of history when it seems difficult to find someone to volunteer for anything for various reasons, Barbara McAndrew took the attitude that if something needed to be done, she would do it precisely because it needed doing. Tennessee Republicans are quickly taking our vast majority for granted in some cases, but there would be no majority were it not for Barbara McAndrew and the Republican Women who worked alongside her. She didn't just serve as Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party and help build it into a respected local civic and political institution, her work to help elect Republican State legislators would bring about the Barbara McAndrew Iris Fund, which continues to help put Republicans in our State Capitol.

This writer has had the honor-and it was certainly that-to work and serve alongside Barbara McAndrew on the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee. Never have I known someone with the passion for conservative principles and for the community that Barbara McAndrew had. I've met many people who like politics, but none who cared enough to put the kind of time into public life that Barbara did, when she could have just as easily been doing so many other wonderful things. In the last year alone, the Jefferson County Republican Party was able to have a town hall with our local candidates which Barbara McAndrew largely helped to fund. Many of our Lincoln Day Dinners were funded as much from the tables Barbara McAndrew would buy. No one knew how to plan a dinner the way Barbara could, either-she was the Queen of Political Protocol.

Those at the Jefferson County Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner remember that she was given a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award by our county party and Governor Bill Haslam. There were a good number of us who believed that she also should have been named Republican of the Year based on the sheer scale of her efforts in the previous year alone, from being the driving force behind two local candidate forums to being at Party Headquarters nearly every day to staff it when there was often no one else. If you visited Republican Headquarters in Jefferson City this past election cycle, you might have bought a button or taken a yard sign from a smiling Barbara McAndrew.

For all of her Republican Party involvement, she also had the time to be active in her church, First United Methodist Church of Dandidge, as well as serve on the Dandridge Planning Commission.

For her contributions to our party and community, there is nothing we can do to thank Barbara McAndrew enough.